We're fairly sure that our '93 Fleetwood Brougham with 99k miles still has the original shocks. The car is very floaty and at times the rear air setup seems like it doesn't work that well, yet the car is at the perfect height all around and looks perfect.

We want to get rid of the leveling, so when it comes time for new shocks, my dad said he wants to replace at least the rear ones with Load Carrier shocks that have a coil spring on them. Autozone sells the Gabriel versions, but I was wondering if anyone had experience with them or not? We basically just want to firm the car up a little and make sure it has enough strength to not sag when more than one person gets in. Not sure about the fronts, as they offer those too.

Hopefully by this summer the car will get new tires (Pinnacles on it now are old and noisy), new shocks, and fresh transmission fluid.

Any comments on the shocks?

juiceE

03-16-05, 05:49 PM

i have those shocks, cant really think of anything bad about them, going over a dip then hill type bump in the road just makes the rear jump back to level position quickly. less floaty for sure but i like it. when theres ppl in the back, u wouldnt notice theyre not air shocks

caddycruiser

03-16-05, 06:44 PM

Do you have the front ones too? Did they do anything to the ride height? I only ask because it's perfect now and don't want it to change.

Firmed up and able to hold a load sounds good to me...now just need tires too.

caddycruiser

03-16-05, 07:25 PM

Anymore thoughts?

juiceE

03-17-05, 10:22 AM

i have impala ss springs on my car, if u ever seen hotrodsaints car, it sits like his does, so i dont think the load carrier springs change the height, maybe just a little, but not enough to notice. no i dont have them in front, i put some kind of police type shocks in front, dont remeber what kind though.

caddycruiser

03-17-05, 11:10 AM

Okay, thanks. Don't want to go to the extent of changing the springs, but the comments on the shocks helped. Now have to figure out if it would be good or not to put them on the front too, or just put regular shocks on.

FTSS

03-19-05, 08:00 AM

If you are set on ditching the autoleveler, then you can get whatever normal shocks you want and just install Airlift 1000 bladders (google or Summit) in the coils and run the airline to a schraeder valve at the gas cap. Voila!

caddycruiser

03-19-05, 12:30 PM

If you are set on ditching the autoleveler, then you can get whatever normal shocks you want and just install Airlift 1000 bladders (google or Summit) in the coils and run the airline to a schraeder valve at the gas cap. Voila!

Um, no. That's a bit too extensive for our purposes. The springs are fine and the car really isn't driven that much, so some stiffer shocks with coil boosters on them to help keep the car level and ride tighter is all that we want. Adding yet another air system is the opposite of what we want--plus it would be more cost and repair later on. Simple shocks solve all those issues.